Setting that makes AirPod Pro mic quality better for people listening on the other end of calls?

[crouch]

Hi everyone,

I've been following most of the review threads, trying to figure out if the AirPod Pros can be used in my working life. I work 100% remotely, and spend a decent amount of time on the phone. Being able to handle long calls, without the recipient hearing all of the background noise, is key. While I've seen reviews saying that call quality is fantastic, I've also read a number of posts stating that folks on the receiving end of the calls have complained about the noise.

Given that some AirPod Pro owners have said everything is fine, while others have said the opposite, I'm wondering: Could this be a settings issue? That perhaps some combination of transparency mode and other settings helps dial back the background noise transmitted through the mics?

Examples of complaints about mic quality, and picking up background noise:

While using my new Pros, I've today had two people on the other side of the phonecall tell me, my call sound quality was so bad, they simply had to hang up.

In the first case I was just walking next to regular city traffic, no wind. Second time was in a not too crowded café. The Pros seemed to pick up unbearable amounts of surrounding noises for the caller.

I opened up the pros halfway though my day yesterday and used them like normal in my usual starbucks spot. Every single person i talked to commented on how I sounded like I was far away and that the back ground noise was alot louder. Essentialy i sounded clearer and with less background noise on the old ones.

yea in a phone call with the pro, my wife could hear the radio in the background. but on the normal ones it wasnt. yea I am wondering if the mic on the pro are not as good since its not as close to your mouth.

Phone conversations: not good – very distracting with NC and even distracting with transpar. on: own voice like… numb.

On phone conversations your own voice does sound numb compared to orginal airpods.

Since using the Airpod Pros this week and on calls people have been commenting on how they are having a hard time hearing me. This is something that never happened with my regular AirPods. From what I can gather it sounds like the external noise cancellation or noise reduction algorithm is getting confused with the noise outside and my voice and effectively cutting out or reducing my voice and boosting the background noise.
Are others running into this problem? The common complaint I’m getting when talking on the phone with the Airpod Pro is that the background noise is too loud.

Same here too. I can't hear my husband at all when he calls me using his Pro's

The biggest factor is the microphone quality. I will use APP for a couple of more days, but if still people will complain about the quality, then I will pass APP to someone.

I'm just wondering why some owners have had good luck, while other's haven't. This could be an environment issue (being in a louder environment versus a more quiet one) but I do wonder if it's a settings issue -- that this could be fixed by toggling something, easily.

Thanks!

 

[upnorth85]

I suspect it is whether one has transparency mode switched on or not.

 

[Pug72]

Not tried calls yet but I find unless ambient silence I have to speak a loud louder to invoke Hey Siri compared to AirPods 1&2. Was out raking leaves and the slow traffic noise was enough to hamper it.

 

[barjam]

It is an apple product, there aren't any settings. You have the option of full ANC, transparency or ANC off. None of which were acceptable for calls (to me) so I returned mine.I feel like with a few more revisions of software/firmware these might work out but until then I couldn't make use of them.

Transparency is super weird to me. You hear your voice reverberating through your skull on top of the slightly delayed, higher pitch playback from the AirPods (everything in transparency sounds slightly higher pitch). I also think since there is a delay it makes your ears a little confused on where the sound is coming from. Whatever the reason it sounds disconcerting to me. In a noisy environment like a car this mixing also affects what other people sound like. I could make out most words on the call but once in a while I could not.

They sound really good otherwise and if you are using transparency for situational awareness it is probably ok but for calls these aren't ready for prime time.

 

[Jutah]

asking to to the OP: did you end buying them? i'm stil struggling with the mic and audio quality, it's not so bad as they say (probably many persons turn on AND mode and so they talk softer) but it's definitely mullfer then original airpoids or telephone mic.

There's a big thread thread running here

 

[crouch]

asking to to the OP: did you end buying them? i'm stil struggling with the mic and audio quality, it's not so bad as they say (probably many persons turn on AND mode and so they talk softer) but it's definitely mullfer then original airpoids or telephone mic.

There's a big thread thread running here

No, I didn't. I never got a satisfactory answer -- that these would be good enough for professional calls with noise around -- so I passed. For some reason, the wired earbuds that come with iPhones are great for this. I was hoping the AirPod Pros would be too!

 

[Jutah]

No, I didn't. I never got a satisfactory answer -- that these would be good enough for professional calls with noise around -- so I passed. For some reason, the wired earbuds that come with iPhones are great for this. I was hoping the AirPod Pros would be too!

yes I confirm the wired earbuds are better. I would give anyway a change the the Pro: you can always return that.

When you call and you switch in the ANC the voice of the other person is great. Nothing around, just your voice and the voice on the other side.

The issue we are talking is in the other side.. they do not have a crystal clear voice,
but I think that no buds can give you this.

Take a look at those wise comparison and make your own idea of how they sound compared to other model (the real life test is usually in the final part of the video).

 

[master.reset]

yes I confirm the wired earbuds are better. I would give anyway a change the the Pro: you can always return that.

When you call and you switch in the ANC the voice of the other person is great. Nothing around, just your voice and the voice on the other side.

The issue we are talking is in the other side.. they do not have a crystal clear voice,
but I think that no buds can give you this.

Take a look at those wise comparison and make your own idea of how they sound compared to other model (the real life test is usually in the final part of the video).

It's a luck of the draw by the sounds of it. I have a pair and they're practically unusable for calls in medium-noisy environments, and no I'm not exaggerating. Apple insists it's not a hardware fault, but the voice recordings paint a pretty dismal picture. Their engineers are trying to figure out what's going on- or so they tell me. Happy to share audio recordings with you if you'd like

 

[Jutah]

i see pretty hard to solve the issue via fw. Yes, i would be happy to share some recording, it's convenient to have other real benchmarks. I have many records via "voice recording" that are pretty accurate. I'll leave you my address via pm.

 

[Bromeo]

I have found my AirPods Pro are an upgrade in call quality compared to my AirPods 2. This is the result of swapping mid-call and asking: a or b. Callers on the other end reported the AirPods 2 pick up and amplify more ambient noise and echos of my voice. The AirPods Pro reduce both effects significantly.
That said, they are not professional call center headsets and are limited by not having a boom mic and the relatively poor codec of duplex Bluetooth audio while on calls. It’s hard to beat a wired noise-cancelling boom mic in noisy environments.

 

[energythief]

Just ordered a few pairs of the Air Pod pro for use with constant work-from-home conference calls, as some employees were complaining of headaches from the weight of our wireless over-the-head earphones. The call (voice) quality is atrocious. We are returning them and trying to purchase AP2 instead. Very disappointing.

 

[MrSaladDressing]

Airpods pro microphone STILL does NOT do noise cancelling. People with whom I speak constantly complain they can hear everything around me. I am disappointed in the "pro" designation without a noise cancelling microphone. The wired apple ear buds did much better! I tried every setting combination available - even in the accessibility settings. Very disappointed and returned.

 

[NastyMatt]

Is there an option of setting noise cancellation also in the app you are using for calls? i.e. We use Google Meet and the noise cancellation in that is very good.

The only issue I have with noise cancelling is - as the person speaking you do not know if/what of the background noise is actually being cancelled!! My kids messing around in the background might be coming through loud and clear and everyone is too polite to complain and I am blissfully unaware ?

 

[StoneJack]

as far as I remember, the thing is the BT stream is not wide enough, so when you use Airpods (and probably other BT headsets) for listening AND speaking, OS automatically picks up bandwith saving codec, so your Airpods end up as 16 000 hz recording quality mike (that's pretty good actually but not highest).

If you'd use an external mike (for example USB mike) and use Airpods only for listening, you'd get much better listening quality (up to 48000 Hz), while your mike will deal with the call quality, usually will also ensure better sound quality when calling.

Therefore, for better call quality, use your phone mics, not Airpods mics. Unfortunately on iPhone, I am not sure if you can split your call between listening on Airpods and talking on phone (on Macs it is possible with Sound preferences).

 

[BigMcGuire]

I use AirPods 2 and 3 all day for work. I have my MacBook Pro as the mic. Sounds great.

 

[StoneJack]

Airpods pro microphone STILL does NOT do noise cancelling. People with whom I speak constantly complain they can hear everything around me. I am disappointed in the "pro" designation without a noise cancelling microphone. The wired apple ear buds did much better! I tried every setting combination available - even in the accessibility settings. Very disappointed and returned.

actually thats true for all TWS

 

[StoneJack]

Is there an option of setting noise cancellation also in the app you are using for calls? i.e. We use Google Meet and the noise cancellation in that is very good.

The only issue I have with noise cancelling is - as the person speaking you do not know if/what of the background noise is actually being cancelled!! My kids messing around in the background might be coming through loud and clear and everyone is too polite to complain and I am blissfully unaware ?

your headphones are noise canceling, not your mikes. However, on Macs, there is noise canceling software for MIKES.